My HD DVR just froze and I did the recommended rebooting to no avail. I called them and they are sending me a replacement in "3 to 5 business days." Tomorrow being a holiday and the fact I never get anything in 3 days probably means I won't watch Chiefs/Falcons from the comfort of my couch.

But I digress. The reason for this thread is to ask if there is any way at all to rescue many hours of collected or unwatched programming which includes this seasons last 4 episodes of "Game of Thrones" and the last 2 episodes of "Burn Notice." :banghead"

I figure, there should be a way to transfer whats on the hard disc to an external. My computer wiz friends are all going through a couple of weeks of real hectic PhD work and I don't want to bother them. So you losers are my only hope now. :D :)

Chazno

09-02-2012, 08:46 PM

Usually if my DVR dies I can still watch TV but the pause button does nothing and can't watch stuff from the HDD. As for the stuff on it, I've never heard of a way..... that Dish would allow.

loochy

09-04-2012, 09:38 AM

you'd have to somehow crack the old unit open and physically transfer the hard drive to the new unit

Frankie

09-04-2012, 09:51 AM

you'd have to somehow crack the old unit open and physically transfer the hard drive to the new unit

I have thought about that. When the new unit arrives I have 10 days to return the old one. I'm seriously thinking about opening up the old one. I have a feeling though that it won't be nearly as easy as doing the same with regular computers. Wish me luck.

htismaqe

09-04-2012, 09:55 AM

you'd have to somehow crack the old unit open and physically transfer the hard drive to the new unit

Unfortunately, if the issue he's having is related to a HDD failure, it's likely putting the old HDD in the new DVR will cause it to freeze as well.

You'd be better off looking around the Internet for a method to connect the HDD to your PC, copy the content files without any system files, and then copy those content files to the new HDD.

Yet another reason I've ditched this type of service...

Pestilence

09-04-2012, 09:57 AM

Unfortunately, if the issue he's having is related to a HDD failure, it's likely putting the old HDD in the new DVR will cause it to freeze as well.

You'd be better off looking around the Internet for a method to connect the HDD to your PC, copy the content files without any system files, and then copy those content files to the new HDD.

Yet another reason I've ditched this type of service...

Off topic question.....but what do you record your shows on? Laptop? Portable HD?

htismaqe

09-04-2012, 10:02 AM

Off topic question.....but what do you record your shows on? Laptop? Portable HD?

I don't record shows anymore. I get them via VOD, mostly Amazon Marketplace.

Of course, this means pretty much NO live/up-to-date TV. I watch football OTA or via online streams.

Admittedly, this won't work for everyone. I just don't watch enough TV to justify paying a cable/satellite bill anymore.

Fish

09-04-2012, 10:08 AM

you'd have to somehow crack the old unit open and physically transfer the hard drive to the new unit

Keep in mind, this will void your warranty should the new unit malfunction. They're really nazi about that. And it's not really guaranteed to work, depending on the differences in the units. They intentionally make it very difficult to do this type of thing, to protect themselves against copyright issues and such. Having a saved show on your cable provider owned DVR is fine, but when you transfer that to somewhere else, you're breaking all kinds of rules.

Not sure if you care about that or not, just thought it should be mentioned.

Frankie

09-04-2012, 10:50 AM

Keep in mind, this will void your warranty should the new unit malfunction. They're really nazi about that. And it's not really guaranteed to work, depending on the differences in the units. They intentionally make it very difficult to do this type of thing, to protect themselves against copyright issues and such. Having a saved show on your cable provider owned DVR is fine, but when you transfer that to somewhere else, you're breaking all kinds of rules.

Not sure if you care about that or not, just thought it should be mentioned.

Hell, I have got a lot of my recordings transferred to an external HD. Dish Network actually proudly advertises that ability. I've collected what I want to edit and keep for myself. I don't plan to sell them or anything.

I should have transferred all of them before the failure. I was beginning to suspect a few abnormal function with the DVR. Never thought it would amount to a big failure.

htismaqe

09-04-2012, 10:53 AM

Hell, I have got a lot of my recordings transferred to an external HD. Dish Network actually proudly advertises that ability. I've collected what I want to edit and keep for myself. I don't plan to sell them or anything.

I should have transferred all of them before the failure. I was beginning to suspect a few abnormal function with the DVR. Never thought it would amount to a big failure.

Did you ask Dish if they would do it? I'm sure it would cost money but maybe they offer that as a service.

I forgot they allow transfer of content to external devices.

bevischief

09-04-2012, 10:58 AM

My new Direct TV unit has a port on it for external hard drive.

htismaqe

09-04-2012, 11:28 AM

My new Direct TV unit has a port on it for external hard drive.

Is it enabled?

Some of the receivers for both Dish and DirecTV have had data ports (mostly USB) for years but they couldn't be used for anything, at least not be the average subscriber...

Frankie

09-04-2012, 01:45 PM

Did you ask Dish if they would do it? I'm sure it would cost money but maybe they offer that as a service.